Link

I promised I'd post links to the Boston Globe articles I wrote this week. Unfortunately only one ran as scheduled. I'm assuming the next will run next week, and I'll post it then. But here's a news brief about some possible changes near my house in Jamaica Plain: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/08/05/one_way_idea_is_circulated_for_getting_round_the_t/

No time!

I've had this song stuck in my head all week because, you guessed it, I have no time! (I love the part late in the song when they keep repeating "No time! No time!" with urgency in their voices.)

The odd thing is that I have much more time than I will in the fall, when I start TAing and my graduate assistantship. But I had meetings regarding both of those things--and my Harvard Extension School thesis--this week, so all sorts of thoughts, ideas, and worries about them are floating around in my head. Thank god for this sleep/meditation CD or I would've spent a third night as an insomniac last night.

So, what do I do when I feel stressed? Make a list, of course! Here goes:

Things not to worry about right now:
1. TAship (expiration date 8/15, when I should email professor some thoughts on which classes I want to lead)
2. Grad assistantship (expiration date 9/1, when I should email supervisors and touch base)

Things to do this weekend
1. Add baking scenes into my main story for my upcoming MFA submission
2. Revise the short short story that I will be submitting too
3. Expand the outline to my MFA essay
4. Brain dump about the stories I am adding to my final MLA thesis essay

Things that will get done sometime, and it's fine that they're not done right now (really, it is):
1. Fix up my garden (front)
2. Add elevated beds for my back veggie garden
3. Paint the floor/ceiling of my back porch
4. Put together a wedding album (yes, I've been married for 3 years and I haven't done this yet...)
5. Get down the many essays that are floating around in my head, especially one on dealing with a loved one's sickness and an essay on covering neighborhood meetings now, in my own neighborhood vs when I was younger and a reporter for a town newspaper in a ritzy area that I could never dream to live in (and with snobby people worried about the stupidest things...)

On that note....
I have two articles that will be in this week's Sunday Globe. I'll post links on Sunday.

Feeling like my head might explode

I was scooting along just fine, but now I'm feeling a huge sense of
overwhelm. I think this has a few sources: 1-I'm going away this
weekend so I need to get my MFA submission done tonight. 2-I want to
cook a bunch of yummy treats for my trip, which will compromise how
much time I have to work on writing tonight. 3-My "day job" has been
crazy this week. 4-I've been putting together a proposal for a large
freelance project. The amount of time/work this will take is daunting,
but more than that, the thought of negotiating the cost of the project
is stressful for me (and I have to do that in a phone meeting today).
5-I *think* I will be volunteering at 827 soon. I am almost too
overwhelmed to be excited. 6-I'm behind on my interdisciplinary MFA
project. My advisor is very understanding, but I still feel bad. Plus,
that means next week, when I normally let myself relax a bit between
submissions, I will be busting ass on that.

What am I going to do? I just don't know. A personal day is surely in order for next week. And I may try to throw a massage in there, too. But even that may not
be enough! Suggestions or just tele-hugs are welcome.

New assignment

So it looks like I'll be covering this Grub Street writing workshop for the Globe. I'm very excited. I've been hoping to break into more feature writing with them, and here's my chance! I also got an email from the Skirt editor acknowledging my submission. Hey, it's something.